SOMETIMES there are pleasant surprises from the much-maligned Church of England. Last week, its former Archbishop of Canterbury defended Pope Benedict’s remarks about violence in Islamic history.
Archbishops of Canterbury have not always distinguished themselves politically. Archbishop Laud infamously helped Charles I persecute the Puritans in the 1600s, igniting a revolution, and losing his own head. In more modern times, Archbishop Lang supported British appeasement policies towards Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. Archbishop Runcie often criticized Western resolve against the Soviet Union during the Cold War’s final years in the 1980s.
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